Protest Letters from Disqualified Candidates to the Guardian Council

The newspaper Etemad reported on the new efforts of reformists to identify lesser-known reformist candidates through calls on the internet and social media, quoting Ali Soufi, head of the reformists' election headquarters in Tehran, stating: "We decided to invite all those whose qualifications have been confirmed to announce their resumes to us" and "Our assessment is that the presence of lesser-known reformist figures who are indeed reformists is acceptable in this collection." The newspaper Ebtekar reported that Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, the Minister of Interior, during a speech at a conference of governors and provincial governors, referred to the current discussions about the confirmation of qualifications in the supervisory boards and objections to these results, saying, "On Tuesday, I personally visited the Leader and provided him with the necessary reports and consulted with him. We have also provided the necessary reports to the Guardian Council and the Leader's office to ensure that no one's rights are violated." The Minister of Interior stated, "The 12,000 individuals who have registered for the elections are considered the elites of the country and must prove in the political space that their rights have been realized within the framework of the law." The newspaper Arman dedicated its front page to Ali Motahari and Mohammad Ashrafi Isfahani, the sons of Morteza Motahari and Ataollah Ashrafi Isfahani, two clerics who not only played a role in the formation of the Islamic Republic but were both assassinated in the early years of the revolution. However, their children have now been disqualified due to "lack of commitment to Islam." The newspaper Shargh reported that "the protest letters from disqualified candidates to the Guardian Council continue. The latest of these is Mostafa Moein, former Minister of Science and a reformist candidate in the 2005 presidential election, who registered for the parliamentary elections from the Shiraz constituency and whose qualifications were rejected by the supervisory board." The newspaper Hamdeli published new remarks from the Leader of the Islamic Republic regarding the elections, quoting him as saying: "I said those who do not accept the system should vote, not that they should enter the parliament." The newspaper Kayhan, however, focused on another part of Ali Khamenei's remarks, quoting him as saying: "Choose individuals who do not sell the country to the enemy." According to this newspaper, the Leader of the Islamic Republic also stated: "Young people who are ardent supporters of the revolution and Islam should not be weakened and attacked under the pretext of the attack on the Saudi embassy or earlier, the attack on the British embassy, both of which are detrimental to the country and Islam, and I was also disgusted by them." The newspaper Javan dedicated its front page to Mohammad Ali Jafari, quoting the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as saying: "We will disrupt the scenario of the disintegration of Iraq and Syria." According to this newspaper, Mohammad Ali Jafari stated at the "Gaza, Symbol of Resistance" conference: "No army, even the American army, can withstand and resist against the Islamic Revolution movement." This newspaper also quoted Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the commander of the Basij, as saying: "The lifting of sanctions on Bank Sepah and the retrieval of $1.7 billion of Iran's frozen assets after 36 years has no connection to negotiations and was merely the price that America paid for the release of its spies." The newspaper Iran published an exclusive note from Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, titled "A Bright Future for China-Iran Relations." The Chinese President wrote in this note that he will officially visit Iran at the invitation of Hassan Rouhani and will seriously discuss strengthening China-Iran relations and important regional and international issues, emphasizing that "Beijing and Tehran are thousands of kilometers apart, but the distance cannot prevent the closeness and cooperation between the two countries and cannot hinder the strengthening of exchanges and friendship between the two nations."